It occurs more often than desired that large Chemical Companies are forced to close plants that have contaminated water in urban cities. When contamination is high, such cases are easily detected and reported. However, it may be difficult to detect leakage of chemical pollutants into an environment at low levels in real-time. Thus, detection of toxic effluent is often only reported when obviously noxious chemicals contaminate drinking water significantly, or when small amounts of chemicals have leaked into the environment over a period of time such that contamination levels have become highly noticeable.
Detection of real-time pollution at early stages may assist with tracking and enforcing pollution guidelines specified by regulatory bodies. History has shown that quiet, unseen, and undetected effluence over extended periods can lead to serious and dramatic public health and environmental crises. Human and environmental damage may continue to occur as a result of slow, low-level leaks of toxic chemicals into waterways. Early detection of pollutants could help corporations and regulatory bodies take corrective action before larger volumes of pollutants are released.
Existing systems for measuring levels of pollution, effluent discharge rate, etc., frequently include an array of sensors deployed in an environment. Each sensor of the array collects data and periodically transmits a measurement. The sensors may detect pollution by making periodic measurements of variables that help detect presence of pollution. Communication links between pairs of sensors and between sensors and a central unit are employed to enable the sensors to communicate their measurements amongst one another. Energy consumption of a sensor is typically highest during data transmission. Sensors are typically battery powered so as to be portable, and thus, once the battery drains out, the sensor can no longer transmit signals and thus becomes ineffective. The periodic transmissions of data measurements thus have a negative impact on the sensor's lifetime and increase the need for routine maintenance.